


Not everything must go as planned

by FourEyezComicz



Category: No Straight Roads (Video Game)
Genre: (?), Dialogue Heavy, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff with some angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of War, Mutual Pining, Nova is Neurodivergent, Post canon, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Swearing, by that I mean heavy PTSD/existencial crisis/mourning/guilt, heavy headcanon based, neon can't eat and is partially blind, neon is trans and dj is Non-binary, they both hate eachother but are forced to spend most of their time with eachother, will contain sensitive topics here and there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:40:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27541717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FourEyezComicz/pseuds/FourEyezComicz
Summary: After the whole rock revolution caused by B2J, NSR has been doing some changes in its workplace, the most noticeable being the idea of making the superstars work together more often. So, when a veteran manager and an egomaniac DJ are basically forced to spend most of their time working together, everything will go as planned.Right?Just a slow burn fanfic with tons of headcanons I wanted to make.Will try to update once a week but no promises.English isn't my first language so I apologize for any typos, I'll try to avoid them as much as possible.((Tags might change))
Relationships: DJ Subatomic Supernova/Neon J.
Comments: 40
Kudos: 142





	1. Chapter 1

Neon was walking around Eve’s home, with his walking stick in hand, he wasn’t in need of it’s help at the moment, but he still prefered to hold it near in case of emergencies.  He looked around the place, paying attention to some of the small statues she had around. His radar pings as he analyzes the figures, even though he doesn’t have the ability to see “normally” anymore, his radar helps him out to recreate his surroundings with simple shapes, it isn’t the best but at least he can see what he’s doing.

One figure caught his attention, it was clearly a sculpture of Eve, or well, probably a younger version of her, she had short hair which didn’t manage to reach her shoulders. Based on the information his radar managed to pick up, there was a bunch of paint scattered in the right side of the sculpture, it was a mix of yellow, blue, some pink and small spots of green here and there. He knew Eve has always had quite a distaste over her pink side, so this was probably just her way to express her feelings over it.

His train of thought was stopped by a faint sound of footsteps coming near him, he switched the stick to his left hand and tightened his grip, he got in a position in which he could easily detect the incoming person, his radar turned around in circles frantically. The footsteps got closer and closer, Neon kept his position, waiting for the moment his radar picked the presence of this incoming person.  “I swear to- oh! geez, there you ar-” A voice echoed on the hallway, to then leave it in complete silence, with only the radar’s pinging to keep the silence from taking over. After some seconds of the radar pinging, he received the information on who this person was.

It was Eve, of course it was her, she lives alone after all, she was in a more casual attire, with her hair picked up in twin buns “Calm your gears Neon, it’s just me” Eve giggled, walking over to neon, showing her hands to prove him she didn’t have the intent to hurt him while she held a cup filled with tea, right, she was going for tea and neon decided to walk around.  “My deepest apologies Eve, that was rude from my pa-“ “shush! Quit the formalities, we’re not at work. It’s alright” Eve and Neon have been close friends ever since 1010 got accepted in NSR, Eve knows some stuff can trigger Neon’s fight or flight mode, so she tries to avoid certain topics and acts. 

“I decided to take a… look around while you made tea” Neon fidgeted with his stick, passing it from one hand to another, Eve made a hand gesture to tell him to follow her “tea doesn’t take that long to make if I’m being honest” Neon’s radar pings a few times as he follows Eve “It doesn’t?” Eve shook her head, taking a sip off her tea “don’t tell me you were a coffee person”

They walked over to the living room, chatting about different topics “and how have you been with the recent changes in NSR?” Neon crossed his legs and shifted the weight of his…. radar onto his hand “I would be shamelessly lying to you if I said I’ve been fine, the resources have been cut short, my art expositions and shows are still frozen AND since we’re still with the whole power outage situation I also struggle with creating new music. But I bet you’re facing the same problem too, aren’t you J?”  She finished her drink and left it on the short table next to the sofa “I am in the same situation as you, Eve, all 1010 shows have been frozen until further notice, the fans are still freaking out in social media for the endoskeleton ordeal” Neon rubbed the side of his monitor, putting himself in a more relaxed position.

“oh right! How are the boys after… all of that?” She sat on the edge of her seat “they’re… doing alright? I still don’t have the resources needed to repair the factory, so I had to repair them by hand, most of them are fine, with Eloni and Rin with some problems here and there, I probably can’t say the same for their mental state. The moment the fans saw their destroyed bodies it all went downhill, they’re extremely dependent on fan validation and let’s just say that didn’t help”  She rubbed her temples, Neon and Eve have always disliked the 1010 fans, she growled, probably complaining about them under her breath “switching topics, how have you been with collabs? Have you agreed with anyone yet?” Eve closed her eyes as she laid her head on the back of the sofa, clearly tired “Oh, I contacted two at the moment, Sayu’s team, but they haven’t responded yet” He stayed silent for a moment, Eve waited for neon to mention who was the second artist he contacted.

“I… also texted Supernova and we agreed on meeting up later today” Neon ended up muttering it out, Eve choked on her own air before breaking into laughing “Dj subatomic supernova? THE Dj subatomic supernova? You’re always complaining to me about how annoying you find them to be, how come you’re now willing to work with them?” Neon signed, checking his internal clock “if working with… them helps his city progress and become a better place to live then I’m willing to do what I must!” He stood up and saluted, making Eve giggle.  “Well, I wish you the best of luck and I give my condolences, do you prefer cremation or burial?” Neon let out a sarcastic ha ha, he sat down again “aren’t you friends with Subatomic? Sure I dislike them, but they can’t be that bad” he played around with the tip of his walking stick “if by friends you mean bickering and mutual insulting, then yes we’re the best of friends. We can manage to get along thanks to the fact that we see the world in a similar light, but they’re gonna to destroy you. You’re basically the embodiment of what Nova hates” 

Neon once again checked his inner clock, 12:30 AM… he should get going “I guess I’m putting that to the test then, I need to get going” Neon stood up and walked over to the door, Eve following him “any last wishes?” Eve giggled, neon looked back at her and deadpanned “if I don’t get in contact with you in two hours, call the police” Eve broke into a laugh and nodded “anything for you, good luck”

And so, he walked away, to meet up Nova in Cast Tech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hello thank you for reading this mess-  
> Sorry for literally no Nova in this chapter, the segment of Eve's house was planned to be short but shit got out of hand and boom 1000+ words  
> I'm basically new to AO3 so I'm still getting used to everything around here.


	2. Chapter 2

Neon is used to Natura and Akusuka, not as much as he’s used to Metro city, he knows every single speck of dust in there, he designed it and made it prosper, he even added the extreme neon lights in hope he could walk around better, and it sure as hell helped him. But he still knows Natura and Akusuka, he can move around and find specific places, Natura’s calm vibe and lack of people help his radar, Akusuka might be noisy from time to time and many of the figures end up being blend in his radar, but it doesn’t pose much of a problem for him.

That is **nothing** in comparison to Cast Tech, after at least 20 minutes of aimless wandering around the district, he just accepted the fact that he got lost. Yes, Cast Tech isn’t half as noisy as Akusuka or Metro division can be, the problem was that he has never been here before, his dislike for Supernova combined with the lack of need to get in contact with them caused Neon to never actually set a foot on Cast Tech.

He was supposed to be there 10 minutes ago, he’s never late, he has never been late in his life from what he can recall, but Nova wasn’t of much help in here _“we can meet up in the planetarium, I’ll see you there”_ he didn’t even tell him where this planetarium was, the stress he already held over having to meet up with Nova (and being late to said meeting) with the fact that most, if not all the houses in Cast Tech had a lot of round shapes, just like a planetarium, it’s not enough to say that Neon’s radar was not working at it’s best.

J almost hit a lot of people while he walked around, he could call Nova for help, it would make everything easier, hell, he could have been there by now if he did that. But he won’t, because that would be giving up, and he does not give up. So he kept on walking.

He could just text Supernova and tell them that some problems came up and he couldn’t make it to today’s meeting, his troops are probably up to something right now, he can just back away from this situation he forced himself in. But he can’t, this is his duty as Metro Division’s Charter, he has to protect Vinyl city and the people in it, he has to grant them a good life, and this collab will do it, so he has…. to meet up with Nova. And he can’t even do step one right, as always.

As he kept walking around, he wondered about the collab, they both had significantly different themes, ocean and space didn’t really clash that well.

What a funny metaphor to their non-existent relationship.

He was probably just overthinking all of this, he just needs to make a good first impression and everything else will be a piece of cake. They have only seen eachother in monthly NSR meetings, the only thing he managed to get from there is the inflated ego of Nova and that they sometimes… stared at him? They wore a helmet so it is quite hard to tell what they’re looking at, but his radar managed to catch the feeling of being stared by someone, so he assumed it must have been Nova.

He checked his inner clock again, 1:34 PM… god he has been walking around for almost an hour now, he turned around, deciding to just… go back to Metro Division, he started walking away, hoping he would easily find the entrance to Akusuka, muttering to himself in the process.

Neon was stressed out of his mind, and Akusuka’s high noises won’t help him at all, here is where having a body that’s at least 80% robotical comes to help. He deactivated his hearing system by pushing a bottom behind his monitor, he kept on walking, still trying to find an exit to the hellhole that he now knows as Cast Tech, he should probably get a map update to his system once he gets back to the mansion, he should also add it to his troops, but knowing them, they either already know the city better thanks to the countless times they have sneaked out of the mansion, or it would end up helping them with said escapes.

His monitor pinged, sensing someone following him, he kept on walking, maybe it was a coincidence, after some seconds of speed walking, he came to the conclusion that he was being followed, right as he concluded that, his monitors sensed the person’s hand getting near him, without even thinking it, Neon changed his grip on his stick and hit the hand with it, making the person back down.

It took him some seconds to realize how much force he used on the stick, he activated his hearing system again, to be greeted with… a smooth and deep voice, he instantly knew who it was. It was the DJ, what a perfect first impression he did huh?

“You red dwarf… What was your point with that?” Neon’s monitor pinged as it picked up the appearance of Nova, they were holding a bag with groceries as they slightly shook their other hand “Oh gosh…! My inmense apologies Subatomic, I did not know it was you” He saluted the DJ as his radar kept pinging, Nova sighed “I have been trying to catch your attention by calling your name but it didn’t seem to have worked for some reason, and when I try another way I get hit by a stick!” Neon would rather rot six feet under than continue this conversation, all he had to do was to make a first impression, not hit nova the moment he saw them, this was going horribly “I apologize for that, I turned off my hearing system so I couldn’t have heard you”

If Neon could see Nova’s eye, he could have sworn that they rolled them exaggeratedly “Of course… Anyways, you’re late” They decided to switch topics, there was nothing more to discuss after all “Ah, I had the intent to get to the planetarium by 1 PM, but I got lost in the way, I’m not that familiarized to Cast Tech” Nova nodded slowly “Hm… I do understand that Cast Tech might be confusing for someone like you, follow me, I’ll take you to the planetarium” they didn’t let Neon react to what they said, Nova started walking and Neon was forced to follow.

Someone like him? What was that supposed to mean? His monitor kept pinging, trying to learn the route Nova was taking to the planetarium, if everything goes wrong, he will be forced to come back to continue with this collab. He tried finding anything remarkable to pinpoint his location, just as he was doing that, his monitor detected a statue, he slowed down his pace as he received the information.

You had to be kidding.

A giant statue of Suprnova, as they held a planet, the place was more crowded than other places in Cast Tech, probably because it was the center of the district. He is aware that the districts are filled with statues and merchandise of the artists, Akusuka had posters of Sayu all over the place, Natura had some small statues of Yinu on top of fountains or bridges, Dream Fever’s overall theme was based around Eve, Heck even Metro division had the faces of 1010 pasted all around.

But **a giant statue**? That is excessive, his over reaction was probably just because he saw Nova in a bad light unlike the other artists. But again. Excessive

He didn’t realize he stopped in his tracks to stare at the statue, Nova turned around and looked at Neon “...is there a problem?” Nova’s voice snapped Neon out of his inner monologue “Negative, I was just looking at the statue” Nova titled their head to the side “I am glad to see that at least you have some good taste in art” that’s all they said before they started walking again, Neon again, following them.He was totally being looked down on by Nova, in other situations, he wouldn’t have minded this, he knows quite well that he has achieved amazing things in his lifespan, which just made him more confused over why was he so irritated by the opinions Nova seemed to hold of him, he decided to brush it off and kept walking, the statue might be a good place to start memorizing the way to the planetarium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am once again apologizing for the lack of Nova, at least they appeared at the second half of this chapter so that’s an improvement/hj  
> Nova is a pain to to write but an attempt was made.  
> ((This chapter hasn’t still been checked so it might have some mistakes that will be fixed later))


	3. Chapter 3

The two artists arrived at the planetarium, Nova turned on the lights, the walls showed a part of the galaxy, it was obvious it was recorded, it glitched here and there and it repeated after some seconds. “Make yourself comfortable” Nove said as they sat down on a sofa and pointed at some other chairs “Thank you but… I’d rather stand up” Nova shrugged “whatever floats your boat then” they sighed, shifting positions “So, you wanted to talk about a collab, I’m all ears” Neon pinged and nodded “affirmative, as you have heard, Tatiana told us we should try to collab with eachother to manage to produce more electricity, so I decided to contact you” 

“Oh right, Do you have any ideas? Our themes and audiences are really different, your boy band is based around the ocean with military and navy undertones, targeted at hormonal adolescents. While my music is made for people with taste and-“ “understood, we have clashing themes” with each exchange of words with Nova, everything kept going from bad to worst, he knows that the target audience of 1010 are teens and young adults, but that does not mean they have bad taste, nor is 1010’s music bad.

“I was thinking that we could make two songs, each of them being more centered about each of our themes” Neon explained as he walked around in circles, Nova rubbed his helmet “it could work, question is, where is 1010? Wouldn’t you like to start the songwriting progress quickly?” Nova stood up and walked towards Neon “if you think I will bring my troops without protection then I’m sad to say that you’re wrong, we do not have the proper transportation and I can’t take the chances of fans causing a scandal because they saw them, it’s too dangerous for bypassers and my troops” “so what? You came here, got lost and then just agreed to work with me?” 

The DJ chuckled “...Negative, we can start songwriting right now, 1010 will get involved later in the progress” Neon walked away from Nova “1010 is a group effort from both my troops and I, but since they can’t be here right now, I’ll do it myself from the time being” “aren’t you just the manager? Why are you getting involved in all of tha-“ “that title is just simplified version of my work, my purpose is to protect the people in vinyl city, if that includes songwriting, so be it” Neon stood proud as he “looked” at Nova, they looked back at the manager, his motives were quite laughable in their eyes, but they stayed silent, after all they might end up annoying the man.

* * *

The two brainstormed ideas for the collab, Nova wrote down every idea that came up in a small notebook, whenever they weren’t judging Neon for whatever reason, they were actually bearable, with quite good ideas, Neon had to accept that Nova is really talented. Neon checked his internal clock once again, 1:57… he should probably call Eve “If you excuse me, I have to make a call, I’ll be back” Nova shook their hand and took out their phone, Neon walked out of the planetarium, he pressed some bottoms in the back of his monitor and called Eve.

“I should tell you that I was just about to call authorities” Eve said as soon as she picked up “I’m sure you were” Neon chuckled “Well aside from that, how’s your wonderful meeting with the great DJ Subatomic Supernova?” “...it’s going… alright? Aside from them looking down at me most of the time, it has gone well. We have come up with some ideas” Eve clapped “oh I’m sure such a… beautiful bond will be created between you two” Eve giggled “Hardy har har” “I better not get in the way, I’ll call you later then” and with that, Eve hung up, Neon walked back inside the planetarium.

“I’m back, my apologies Supernova” Neon walked towards the DJ “whatever, while you were out I got some ideas, mind hearing them” “not at all, go ah-“ Neon’s radar pinged, he received a message though his system:

**PRHW LOWER LEFT EXTREMITY COMPROMISED**

Neon read said message “is there something wrong?” Nova titled their head to the right, looking at the captain “I have an inner system connected to my troops, it sends me updates on their well-being, it seems Purl-hew is up to s-“ Neon’s radar pinged once again, and it repeated the same noise a bunch of times, messages about Purl-hew’s extremities being compromised, some messages related to Zimelu popped up as well, and one of Rin’s right arm appeared not after, Neon was left with no time to react before a quick alarm went off his radar and a final message appeared:

**PRHW HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED, CAUSE: DAMAGE TAKEN TO HEAD**

The second he finished reading the last message, he rushed outside of the planetarium, Nova following him “What is going on Neon!?” “Purl-Hew has been deactiv-“ “who?” Neon sighed “Blue Android, the one with shad-“ before he could finish explaining, he received a call, he picked it up pressing a button behind his monitor “Soldier! What in the world is going on!?” Neon practically shouted, Nova jumped out of surprise and backed away from neon, though they still could hear the conversation over how loud they were. “Captain! We can explain!” 

“Then explain Eloni!” “Purl and Melu got into an argument again! Haym and I tried to stop them but they ended up storming off the mansion, Rin followed them” Neon’s radar was running in circles quickly, based on his body movements it was no secret that he was terrified but trying to hide it “Where are you and Haym at the moment?” 

“Rin gave us the order to stay at the mansion sir! We’ve been tracking the three of them and last time we got coordinates of them it was on the backstreets of Akusuka. That was some time ago so that means th-“ “they’re probably at Cast Tech by now, I’ll go find them, stay in position troops” Neon hung up and started rushing away, the DJ grabbed his arm “what’s the big idea huh? Last time I checked you got lost around here, based on that you will get lost trying to find them” Nova moved their arms to point at the streets “then you help me around” Neon snapped, imitating the same pose Nova did “wha-“ Neon cleared his throat 

“...I am asking for your assistance, we must evacuate my troops outside of your district for everyone’s safety, if the rumor goes around that three of the 1010 members are in Cast Tech, it will cause you problems” Neon was obviously trying to hide his true intentions without much success. Yes, the rumor going around would be dangerous, but Neon wasn’t concerned for how it would affect Cast Tech. “Fine, but you’ll have to repay my services somehow” Nova started walking away, Neon nodded and followed them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am once again posting a chapter without beta read cuz why not ig, I’ll fix errors later  
> I struggled with this chapter so I’m sorry if it’s wonky


	4. Chapter 4

Neon and Nova ran around all of Cast Tech, Nova walked ahead to guide Neon, said man constantly pinged as he followed Nova, trying to detect the androids’ presence “which ones are we searching for again?” Nova turned to see Neon “white, red and blue androids, Nova" Neon sighed, clearly irritated by calling his troops by colors, but he didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to find them.

Nova looked at their surroundings, they really didn't want to be here, but no one could bring themselves to deny aiding Neon in this situation. 

Cast Tech was still calm and almost empty, it was currently work day so it made complete sense for it to be this way, Neon stopped on his tracks "alright, it clear that they’re not on the main streets, where else do you think they could be?”

"From what I managed to overhear from your conversation with the robots, they last located them on the backstreets of Akusuka, most of the backstreets of each district are connected to eachother. The reason why nobody has started a fuss over them being in Cast Tech is because they have been hiding somewhere in the backstreets, so we should probably check on there” 

Nova went back at guiding Neon, now towards the backstreets, Neon assumed they were already in the backstreets, if the Dj managed to overhear the call then it’s obvious that his troops are currently ubícated in the backstreets. He would voice his concerns to Nova but he’s aware that he wouldn’t take anything away from it.

The backstreets of Cast Tech stayed silent as the artists wandered around, the street lights flickered as they passed by. The backstreets were extremely different to the main streets of Cast Tech, there was a strange lack of advertisement of the “great” DJ subatomic supernova, this strangely bothered Neon, there were no TVs playing ads of Nova talking about the universe. Which was… unsettling in a way.

Still, now it’s not the moment to be bothered by that.

* * *

Ping!

Neon’s radar managed to catch the close presence of three familiar androids, Neon rushed away from Nova, startling the latter, the DJ stared at Neon as he took a turn towards an alleyway, until it clicked for them, and ran over to the alley. 

“Captain-“ The white android muttered, hugging himself, as if he was trying to hold one of his arms from falling, with a terrified look in his face. The red android, who was kneeling down, got up and turned around immediately to be greeted by Neon and Nova, his right leg was broken which allowed a lot of wires to come out, but it seemed he could still stand without any problems.

Behind Zimelu, Purl-hew’s unconscious body laid there, a bunch of screws and pieces of metal laid near him, his left arm was turned in a way a human’s arm could never reach, his right foot was completely detached from the leg and half of his face was broken, revealing his endoskin.

Neon ran over to the three androids, checking on them, Nova managed to notice a slight tremble on the cyborg’s body, as he asked the two androids about their current state, his voice was noticeably glitched, like the words were getting stuck on his throat. After some minutes, Neon kneeled down to check on the unconscious Android 

“Would any of you mind to explain what was that?” His voice was almost back to normal, with a few glitches here and there. 

Both Neon and Nova were aware of what happened, but the manager must have wanted to hear it from his troops themselves

The white Android spoke up first “Well sir… Zimelu started bothering Purl-hew, it escalated and both of them ran out of the mansion, I followed them” The Android stopped, looking at his brother that layer unconscious on the group, an expression of guilt and fear was painted on his face 

“they fought for a bit after we got to Cast Tech, so then I-“ “I punched sunglasses on the face, he stumbled back and his head hit the light pole” Zimelu finished Rin’s sentence, he crossed his arms, he seemed unamused, he said in such a calm way it was terrifying in a way.

Neon’s monitor pinged a few times “we need to take him back to the mansion immediately” he took off his jacket, and tried to put it on Purl-hew, Nova stepped in, stopping Neon, who turned to face Nova “I see what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work, the body is clearly unstable, if you move it more the arms are likely to fall off” Nova pointed at the blue Android “that’s exactly why I’m going to put on my jacket on him, it will keep the parts from falling off” the two boys stared at Nova

Rin was shocked on seeing them, the only time he got to see them were in the NSR meetings, so it was a surprise for him. Zimelu, on the other hand, glared at the Dj. Nova enjoyed attention _to an extend_ , and let’s just say that having two androids stare at you in this way crossed the line, but they tried to brush it off “as I said, it won’t work, the arms of the jacket are really thin, you might cause more damage by trying to put it on him” Neon touched the jacket as his monitor pinged, he nodded.

Nova wasn’t the type of person to offer “free charity” to anyone, but Neon, and by extent, 1010, were still their coworkers. They sighed as they took off their jacket “I’ll need your… troops to lift Blue’s torso for a moment” Rin kneeled down and lifted Purl-hew’s chest, just as nova told him to do so. Neon’s monitor pinged a few times, as he tried to figure out what Nova's point was.

Then it clicked.

Oh.

“You want to use… your own jacket?” It still didn’t sit right with Neon, he always saw Nova as this extremely selfish person, so having them basically offer their jacket to help Purl-hew was out of character in Neon’s opinion “my jacket is twice the size of him, putting it on will be easy” as Nova said this, they carefully put on their jacket on Purl-hew, they took the loose foot and hid it on one of the sleeves, to then he tied the loose ends of said sleeves “even if the parts start falling off, the sleeves will keep them in so you won’t lose any on your way back” 

Neon kneeled down and picked Purl-hew up without any struggle, then he turned towards the two androids “Do you believe you’re in condition to walk back to the mansion troops?” Rin looked at Zimelu, who just shrugged, Rin turned back at Neon “Yes sir” 

“Nova, would you mind showing us the way back to Akusuka? If that isn’t much of a trouble” The Dj looked at him and simply nodded and started walking, Neon signaled the two androids to walk ahead, probably to keep an eye on both of them.

* * *

The faint sound of SAYU’s commercials could start to be heard “all you have to do from now is walk straight until you reach Natura, it’ll be easy from there” the two androids kept walking as Neon stopped to face Nova “we will do that… thank you Nova, if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have been able to find these three. You didn’t have to agree to help me but you still did, and I’m grateful for that”

Nova crossed their arms “Leaving you to search aimlessly for them without help would have been simply idiotic, I just did the minimum” “affirmative, but still, you went out of your way for that, I’m sorry for the problems we caused today, I’ll find a way to make it up to you later” with that, the cyborg walked away, leaving Nova standing at the ends of Cast Tech.

Nova wasn’t pleased with how the day had turned out, dealing with the boyband manager was quite the headache for them, at least they managed to advance in the collab before the robots decided to get lost. Still, they finally arrived at their apartment, they probably would have to interact with Neon in a while now, so that was a breather…

...wait.

Then they remembered that the blue robot has their jacket.

_Great._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lived  
> I apologize for the lack of updates, life is crazy and I procrastinated a lot but I’m going back on track because this hell of a chapter is over so I won’t have to suffer with it anymore.  
> Anyways  
> Gonna go die for a month again-/j


	5. Chapter 5

Some days had gone by after Neon and Nova’s last encounter, the Dj was feeling… uneasy in a way ever since. They’ve been trying to work on their music, after all, they must have something ready for when Tatiana finally decides it’s a good moment to go back to holding concerts.

They’ve been also working on the new design for the satellite, Tatiana had asked them to start working on it already and to have the blueprints ready by the end of the month, so there was no time to lose.

This satellite was their legacy in a way, this satellite will continue playing their music even after they’re long gone, they will be remembered by this. The name “Dj Subatomic Supernova” will be on everyone's mouths, everyone will know who they were.

But still, even with all of that to do, they couldn’t ignore the bothering feeling on their back of their head… they probably just wanted their jacket back, they had gone days without it. It’s not like they have a bunch of identical pairs of that exact jackets.

Yes, that is exactly the reason why they’re so distracted, it's clear they weren’t that enthusiastic to meet up with Neon again. That man is an absolute mess when they aren’t in a working environment, but they need their jacket back. 

Nova continued to walk around their house for a while, after a bit of their totally-not frantic walk in circles, the Dj’s phone started ringing.

It was Eve.

She’s probably the only other artist they managed to get along with, team SAYU are literal children, their intellect is way too low to talk to the likes of someone like Nova. Yinu is constantly mocking them, as expected of a creature of no less than 9 years old. Neon j and his robots are aggravating, also extremely loud.

So, Eve is the only tolerable option they have.

Nova picked up the call “So, how was the meeting with Neon?” _Hello to you too huh?_ “How do you know that? I never told you about it” Nova walked towards their sofa and collapsed “Neon told me, us artists actually interact with eachother, you know? He was at my house before he headed to Cast Tech” 

“Of course he did that…” Nova grumbled, rubbing their… temples? Eve laughed “You’re hilarious, you know that Dj?” “And why is that, enlighten me” Eve chuckled once again, taking her time to breathe “you act like you have known Neon for who knows how long, ‘ _of course he did that’_ ? You act like you have been life long friends to the point of being able to predict what he’ll do. It’s amusing”

“He’s the type of running his mouth off, I’m not acting like I know him, he’s just **that** predictable” Nova got up and went back to pacing around the house in circles “I don’t think he can run his mouth off if he **doesn’t have a mouth** in the first place, Nova. He also isn’t as predictable as you believe, he might surprise you if you let your guard down”

Nova stayed silent for a minute, they should… probably avoid saying anything mouth related about Neon. How… Does he even work? No time for those questions right now.

“So, why did you call me? I don’t think your point was to educate me about… Neon J’s anatomy” Nova was now making coffee.

A culinary delicacy, if you ask them.

“Well, I want to know how it went, since you guys enjoy eachother’s company **so much** ” Nova’s coffee was ready by now, they poured the drink and took a sip, getting ready to explain everything to Eve.

* * *

“My… that escalated quickly, that’s probably why neon hasn’t contacted me in the last few days” Eve paused “but who knew that the great Dj subatomic supernova had a kind heart? Giving up your precious jacket just to help Neon and his boys”

“I’m not a monster Eve, those robots are still my coworkers, if they need help and I can somehow provide, I might as well do” Eve just giggled, then they both stayed silent for a bit

“I’ll see if I can contact Neon later, I’m worried about Purl-hew” Eve sighed “I might do that too, I should probably request to go there to get my jacket back”

“Why not have Neon bring it back? This doesn’t sound like something the Nova I know would do” This woman just can’t stop mocking them huh? Nova groaned “that man got lost in Cast Tech for half an hour, if I really want that jacket back the best course of action is to get it myself” 

After some more pointless conversations between the two, Nova hanged up, to then immediately try to text Neon. 

They haven’t texted that much before Neon decided to collaborate with Nova, in fact, they had only talked twice. First was Neon welcoming Nova to NSR, letting them know that they would aid them with anything they needed, which was probably just a lie.

The second one was Neon letting them know that the monthly meeting had been postponed thanks to yet another blackout.

‘Good day Neon J, I contact you to see at what time I can come over to retrieve my jacket’

After sending that text, Nova placed their phone down on the couch and walked back to the kitchen to make themself another cup of coffee, Which they drank rather quickly.

After some minutes and three more cups of coffee, Nova’s phone rang, they rushed over to the couch and took the phone.

‘Greetings Supernova, I’m quite busy at the moment. But if you wish, I’ll let you know when I’m free. Over’

‘I’ll be pending on that then, have a good day’

So, all they had to do was wait for Neon’s text, it wasn’t that hard, as they have pointed out before, they could use this free time to work on the satellite or their music.

It’s what they should do, what they **must** do.

But once again that didn’t go as planned.

It’s not like anything goes as planned for them.

So Nova just stared at their phone, waiting for Neon to contact them again. While drinking four or five more cups of coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO HAPPY NEW YEAR YALL-  
> anyway this chapter was planned to also have Nova going to get their jacket but-  
> It was too long so I had to cut it in half, so I apologize for the lack of Neon in this chapter  
> Still! Hope you enjoy it! Chapter 6 is probably coming out sometime next week!


	6. Chapter 6

Nova has been spending the last two hours staring at their phone, who was now sitting at their work table, underneath it were a bunch of papers, with a lot of scribbles of attempted new music. 

There was also a blueprint, which was now soaked in coffee, it was probably going to end up in the trash at the end of the day.

As you may have guessed, Nova hasn't been able to work on anything today, they tried to come up with some new songs, or start the blueprints, but that went as expected.

They also ran out of coffee.

A tragedy indeed.

They had texted Eve about waiting for Neon’s response.

So she took it upon herself to text Nova every few minutes just to spite them.

‘Eve, you red dwarf, if you text me one more time I’m going to absolutely lose it. This is important’

‘Important? Nova, it’s a jacket, unless you’re using this piece of cloth as a coverup for your hidden intentions of meeting Neon. I would have to disagree on this being “important”. And, by the way, I’m getting free entertainment out of your soap opera with Neon, let me enjoy this”

‘I’m putting you in “do not disturb” now, I want to let you know that you are not helping in this situation, at all’

And so they did, Eve could no longer send cat videos to Nova, there wasn’t a point anymore.

* * *

Ding ding!

After what felt like hours to Nova, their phone finally rang, and they were sure it wasn’t Eve, they unlocked the phone and saw a new text from Neon J.

‘Greeting Supernova, I apologize for the long wait, if you still wish to come pick up your jacket, I’ll be waiting for you at Baracca Massion. Over’

It finally happened, Nova wasn’t sure why, but they felt… excited? Like they were looking forward to this.

But that is absurd, after all, Metro Division is absolutely irritating, the neon lights and 1010’s ads playing on loop in the background annoyed Nova to no end, the only time they would dare to set foot on this hell of a district would be to get to Dream Fever or the NSR tower.

They were… probably just looking forward to getting their jacket back.

That’s was all there is to this.

With that, Nova got ready to head over to Metro Division, they dressed up to look more… decent, they opened their closet to grab their jacket… wait…

Right, Neon has it.

They forgot.

Well, guess they’ll have to wear something else.

* * *

Has Nova ranted about how much they hate metro division?

Of course they have, but it’s worth bringing it back.

Nova walked around said district, trying to find the mansion.

As they walked around, they decided to watch one of the ads playing in the district.

It was about the 1010 members making a short tour of some places in Vinyl City, seeing the robots again made them remember the basically dead body of the blue one.

They knew that the robots couldn’t technically die, they’re robots, not humans. Neon J can bring them back whenever he wishes to do so, but seeing the lifeless body one one of them is pretty close to an actual dead body. And let’s not talk about the other two’s reaction to it.

Nova wasn’t really sure if they were conscious or not, they acted the same in each of the videos they had seen in the news, but they still can’t deny the fact that the day they met up with Neon, they felt quite alive, not like they were paying attention.

Still, there was no time to think about that, they should head straight to the mansion, no more distractions.

* * *

Nova was now standing in front of the main entrance of Baracca Mansion, surprisingly, there was almost no one around. Based on what little nova had seen and heard about 1010, they were aware that they had the most rabid fans out of all of the NSR artists, most of the security in nsr was invested in 1010's concerts, which says a lot about the fans.

Based on that, Nova was expecting the surroundings of the mansion to be filled with crazy fangirls, but it wasn’t.

Not like they were complaining.

They took out their phone and texted Neon.

‘Greetings Neon J, I’m currently outside of the mansion’

Nova walked around for a while, waiting for a response, they decided to put on their headphones and play some music, trying to shift their focus away from the loud ads and music playing around the district.

Ding!

‘Ayo! I’m opening up the door for ya, I’m just struggling with this system, but I’ll be open in a bit, so be ready dude!”

Well… Neon was sure acting strange… Either way, Nova walked over to the gate and waited. And after some seconds, the gate and the main entrance of the mansion opened.

Nova walked inside, the doors closing behind them, they stood still in the main room of the mansion, looking around.

It wasn’t as badly decorated as the exterior, the walls were cream white with small square patterns. It also had a wide, black chair rail.

The only crime the inside of the mansion committed were the neon lights in the floor, the lights were in every single place near a wall, they saw no need in having them. Nova was snapped out of their overanalysis of the mansion by some metallic footsteps approaching them.

One of the 1010 robots entered the room, the yellow one, he was wearing a loose white shirt, a yellow cardigan and blue jeans, one of his hands was in the pocket of the cardigan, and used the other hand to wave at the Dj, his hair was tied in a ponytail.

“Yo! Sorry for making you wait, as I said before, the door system is such a riddle, haha!” The robot rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, Nova stared at the robot, they were certainly not expecting on being greeted by one of the obnoxious k-pop robots

“Ah!- how rude of me! I haven’t introduced myself! The name's Haym! An easy way to remember is to think of Ham, but adding a Y in between!” Haym…? Yeah Nova is not remembering that.

He offered his hand for a handshake, Nova tried to reciprocate it, but Haym swiftly moved his hand and high-fived The Dj, which startled them.

“Haha! Surprise high-five!” Nova stared at their hand and then looked back at the robot “So! You’re Dj… something something supernova!” Haym moved his hand, signaling Nova to follow him “it’s Dj Subatomic Supernova” they sighed, following Haym.

“I’ll just call you Dj! It’s shorter!” Haym walked around the mansion, and nova followed behind “ well, enough of small talk… I’m here to get my jacket back, where’s Neon J?” Nova crossed their arms

“Oh he’s at the workshop, fixing Purl and all, he actually let them be active for a bit! They couldn’t move their legs yet but it was nice to see them half well!” 

_Well this kid sure loves to talk huh?_

“J told us ‘I’ll be busy finishing up Purl-Hew, Dj Subatomic Supernova is coming today and I need one of you help them get to the workshop’ then he gave us his phone and we played rock, paper, scissors to decided who would help you”

Haym took out Neon’s phone, the screen was shattered, but it was still usable “I lost so… now I’m here helping ya! That’s why J sounded so weird in the last few messages, it’s because it was good old Haym! Haha” 

“Oh… so that’s why those texts seemed off…” Nova shook their head slightly, they should have realized that by now “haha! Yeah” Haym looked at the phone and put it on his pocket, then he turned his attention back to Nova “So! While we get to J’s workshop, can I ask you some questions? I’m a big fan of your work!” 

The robot stared at Nova, waiting for an answer

They didn’t know how to feel about this, this robot enjoyed their work? That was surprising. Not Because of the fact that it likes their work, everyone with common sense does, but by the fac5 that **the robot** has interests, 

maybe they underestimated them….

And maybe, answering some questions won’t hurt...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there Nsr community   
> I’ve decided to at at least one drawing to each of the chapters, I want an excuse to draw this family and boom  
> Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter


	7. Chapter 7

“I’m absolutely certain that we have already passed by this plant” The two have been walking around for about 30 minutes, going in circles, Haym kept repeating that ‘they were almost there’ 

But nova knew that wasn’t true.

If it was, they would have been back at their apartment by now, or at least heading back.

“I’ve said this before dude! We’re almost there!” Haym fidgeted with his fingers as he took a turn to the right “his workshop is right he-“ he paused, they were back at the main room of the mansion “nevermind, that's not his workshop” 

Nova rubbed the place in their helmet where their nose would have been and sighed “ok I admit, I’m sort of lost” haym smiled at the DJ “yes, I have noticed that- how long have you been living here again?” Nova moved their hands, gesturing at the inside of the mansion. Haym looked at Nova and then at his hands.

And he just stared at his hands for a few seconds, mumbling numbers and small calculations.

“Almost… ten years? I think? Nine and a half give or take!” Haym held up his hands to Nova’s helmet, the Dj groaned and pushed the robot’s hands out of their face “ten years, and you still get lost around you own house”

“I have a reason! I suck at remembering my surroundings! That’s just how I work! I never need to go to J’s workshop! Purl usually helped me get around but they’re literally in a coma right now!” Haym sat down on one of the small sofas around the room

Nova stared at Haym, clearly disappointed

“Look dude, you have **no face** , so I need to tell you that I can’t tell how you’re feeling! So, are you disappointed just tired?”

Nova groaned again 

“no, wait, I get it now, disappointed, got it” the robot’s internal fans kicked in, making an obnoxious noise 

“If you struggle so much over walking around your house, why did you decide to be the one who helped me? You could have sent any of the other robots” The noise of the fan echoed on the almost empty room, Nova wanted to put on their headphones and get out of the place, but that would most definitely be considered rude

  
  


“Because I lost on rock, paper, scissors! I already told you this! I didn’t choose to come help you!” 

Ah…

Haym probably did say that, but it’s not like Nova put any attention to most of the things the robot said, it was hard to focus. 

Even when Haym was asking them questions about their work and career were they able to focus, they felt the void of anticipating something, but not knowing what it is.

“I always lose on rock, paper, scissors! It's so hard!” Haym cupped his face on his hands, frowning. It was clear Haym wasn’t going to stand up in a bit, so Nova decided to sit down too 

“Rock, paper, scissors is one of the most effortless games, it’s quite predictable to know what the opponent is going to choose” Nova took out their phone, checking if they had any new messages

“How so? My brot- sib- bandmates are always at an advantage in it!” Haym pouted and looked at nova, waiting for an answer 

Nova sighed once again “you can guess the opponent’s move by how tight is their hand” nova paused, still looking at their phone, they moved one of their hands towards Haym and closed it in a fist

“If the opponent’s hand is tightly closed in a fist, they’re most likely choosing rock” Haym stared at Nova’s hand with wide eyes, as if he was taking mental notes “if the index and/or middle finger are slightly less tense, that means they’ll choose scissors” Nova then relaxed all of their fingers, but kept them on a fist

“If they’re going to choose paper, their hand will be relaxed” Nova paused, moving their hand back to their lap “it might not work from time to time, since the game is mostly about luck, but it can be a good advantage” 

Haym gasped and imitated the moves “millions of possibilities have been opened right in front of my eyes… thank you for teaching me the secrets of the artistic act that is playing Rock, Paper, Scissors”

Nova went back to looking at their phone while Haym kept staring at his own hands.

They noticed they had received a text from Eve.

How exciting 

‘How’s the jacket ordeal going? Still waiting for a text like an obsessed teenage girl?’

‘Horribly, the yellow robot took me on an unwanted tour though the whole mansion and I still haven’t gotten the jacket back’

‘Ha! That’s Haym for you, maybe, I don’t know? Text Neon? He’s probably busy. But I do believe he’ll have no problem with helping you himself’

‘No, Haym has his phone”

‘Oh, we’ll have fun there Nova, because I sure am watching this from afar!’

_Well that went fantastic_

* * *

As Haym kept mumbling about rock, paper, scissors, once again, some robotic footsteps approached the main room, a green robot appeared out of one of the hallways connected to the room, he was wearing a green shirt with cuffed jeans.

“Eloni!” Haym rushed over to the green robot and hugged him “finally! It has been what felt like years since I’ve seen a familiar face!... or a face by that matter. No offense Dj”

“...None taken”

Eloni patted Haym in the back, and then turned at the Dj “Ah, Mr. Nova, you’re still here?” He titled his head to the side, confused 

“Unfortunately yes, I still haven’t gotten my jacket back” they stood up, Eloni sighed “Haym got lost, didn’t he? I was suspecting this would happen, follow me, I’ll take you to the captain’s workshop” 

And once again, Nova was left with no other choice but to trust on one of the robots to get them to their destination

* * *

The robot got them to their destination.

Surprisingly…!

Eloni knocked on the door, Neon muttered a firm _“come in”_ from inside the room

Eloni opened the door and entered, while haym stood outside, leaning against the wall, Nova looked at haym

“Oh, I’ll just stay outside dude, Purl is inside and… I don’t really… want to see them… like… that” Haym shuddered slightly, the Dj nodded and entered the room.

The place was pitch black, Nova could sort of tell apart a lot of closets placed around the room, as all of the rooms in this mansion, the floor had neon lights around the walls.

In the center of the workshop was a huge metal table, in which the stiff body of the blue robot layed in, the whole body was light up, making it easy to tell the shape of it, one of their legs was detached from the bot. A bunch of other tools were thrown around the table.

Neon was standing in the back of the table, tinkering with the leg, a strong neon light was hovering over the manager, his radar did the obnoxious pinging the Dj hated.

Nova could pinpoint where the green robot was since his cheeks, eyes and hair were glowing, he looked back at nova and signaled them to come closer

Neon’s radar pinged for some seconds, to then look up to both of them

“Captain, I’ve brought Dj Subatomic Supernova to the workshop” Eloni saluted Neon “Thank you Eloni, I’ll handle it from here, you are dismissed”

Eloni nodded and walked out, Haym followed behind him, waving goodbye at Nova.

The two artists stayed alone at the room

“My sincerest apologies Supernova, Haym isn’t the best when it comes to where he’s standing” neon walked around the room

“It’s quite alright Neon J”

...It was not alright 

Neon took something and handed it over to Nova “as you asked, here’s you jacket, I cleaned it up just in case” Nova took the jacket and folded it, to then put it on their arm, they muttered a quick “thank you” 

“I’ll guide you back to the exit” Neon walked out of the room, and nova followed

An awkward silence filled the halls while they walked, only interrupted by the constant pinging of Neon’s monitor

“I once again wanted to thank you for helping me with Purl-hew, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t aid me” Neon spoke, he looked at the windows, clearly trying to avoid looking at nova “as I said before, there’s nothing to thank me about, I just did what I must”

Neon nodded “Is there anything I can repay you with? Any favors?” Nova shook their head “it’s not necessary Neon, it’s fine”

The monitor pinged again “hm… I’ll think of something later then…”

_This man can’t take ‘no’ as an answer huh?_

“since we're here, I was thinking on when to do our next step on the collaboration, we can’t do it today since my troops have..l basically wasted some of your... valuable time, and Purl-hew is still out of commission. So, would you be available next Wednesday after 4 PM?”

Nova mentally sighed, this man seems to only be able to talk about work “and why exactly Wednesday?”

“The next NSR meeting is on Wednesday, so after it over, you can pass by the mansion so we can start working with my troops”

_Oh F-_

_They forgot about the meeting_

Well, that means overdosing on coffee for two days to try to get at least 3 songs ready and a blueprint of the satellite 

“Ah- uhhh- that is a good idea, I don’t have anything to do after the meeting so I will be here”

Some part of Nova didn’t want to agree on coming to the mansion after the meeting, but they had to, right? They totally didn’t want to come back to this labyrinth

“Expedit! It’s a plan then!” Neon paused "again, I must apologize about Haym, I’ll talk to him about it all later-"

"Wait, how did you know it was him? They never told you anything" Nova looked at the manager, if Neon had a face, you could bet he would be grinning

Neon puffed up his chest proudly "You see Subatomic, I added an internal communication chat to all of my troops, we can keep contact like that. So when Eloni found you and Haym, he notified me about the situation, clever i know"

Nova wanted to groan, they're usually annoyed by people boasting about such small things

But… they weren't annoyed, so they just heard the small ramble Neon gave them about the chat log.

The manager was clearly happy Nova asked about it, it seemed he wanted to explain more about the topic, but decided to cut it short

The two stayed silent again, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable sort of silence…

It was quite comforting in a sense. For the Dj at least.

And the anticipation they had felt for the entire day quickly went away after that...

* * *

Neon reached to the door and opened it, revealing the garden and fence of the mansion 

“The train back to Cast Tech must be taking off in a few minutes for now…” he muttered, Nova started walking away 

“hm… Oh! Before I forget! Here”

Neon took out a small piece of paper out of his jacket “I activated Purl-hew early in the morning so he could interact with his mates, the moment he found out you were coming, he told me to give you this”

Nova turned around and stared at the paper “huh, how peculiar…” they paused, taking the paper “thank you Neon”

The manager nodded and walked away “of course, have a safe trip back, Supernova” the fence and door shut closed, leaving Nova with their jacket and the piece of paper

* * *

The Dj was finally back home.

They should probably start working on a new single, or the blueprints.

But their mind was only set on one thing.

They sat on a sofa and reach out to their pocket, taking out the piece of paper

The handwriting was surprisingly smooth for a robot…

_“Ok I’ll make this quick since I don’t have much time. I just wanted to thank you for helping my_ _~~brother and da~~ _

_wait, ignore that, do not tell the captain I called him that, god do I hate writing with pens._

_Anyways, thank you for your help, I also wanted to say that I’m a big fan of your work, I’m glad we’re getting to work together_

_Anyway I think that’s all since my dad needs to work on some other repairs on me_

_See ya_

~~_Purl-hew_~~ _the blue one_

_PS: please please don’t tell Captain called him dad, you saw nothing”_

Huh...

It wasn’t what Nova expected, it’s not like they had any expectations on this letter, but… for some reason, they felt more calm…

...how odd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done with the jacket ordeal hooray  
> I might start making the chapters longer from now on? who knows


End file.
